Romantic partners and body image disturbance: Further evidence for the role of perceived?actual disparities

Body image disturbance – a cause of distress amongst the general population and those diagnosed with various disorders – is often attributed to the media’s unrealistic depiction of ideal bodies. These ideals are strongly gendered, leading to pronounced fat concern amongst females, and a male preoccupation with muscularity. Recent research suggests that visual aftereffects may be fundamental to the misperception of body fat and muscle mass – the perceptual component of body image disturbance. This study sought to establish the influence of gender on these body aftereffects. Male and female observers were randomly assigned to one of four adaptation conditions (low fat, high fat, low muscle, and high muscle bodies) and were asked to adjust the apparent fat and muscle levels of male and female bodies to make them appear as ‘normal’ as possible both before and after adaptation. While neither the gender of observers or of body stimuli had a direct effect, aftereffect magnitude was significantly larger when observers viewed own-gender (compared to other-gender) stimuli. This effect, which may be due to attentional factors, could have implications for the development of body image disturbance, given the preponderance of idealised own-gender bodies in media marketed to male and female consumers.

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The Role of Body Image on Psychosocial Outcomes in People With Diabetes and People With an Amputation

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2020.614369 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah McDonald ◽

Louise Sharpe ◽

Carolyn MacCann ◽

Alex Blaszczynski

Keyword(s):

Body Image ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Medical Condition ◽

Psychosocial Outcomes ◽

Health Condition ◽

Body Image Disturbance ◽

Psychosocial Outcome ◽

Personal Investment ◽

Ideal Discrepancy

IntroductionResearch indicates that body image disturbance is associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes for individuals with physical health conditions, with poorest body image reported for individuals with visible bodily changes. Using White’s (2000) theoretical model of body image the present paper aimed to examine the nature of these relationships in two distinct groups: individuals with an amputation and individuals with diabetes. It was hypothesized that body image disturbance would be associated with psychosocial outcomes and would mediate the relationships between self-ideal discrepancy and personal investment in psychosocial outcomes.MethodsIndividuals with diabetes (N = 212) and individuals with an amputation (N = 227) provided details regarding their medical condition, and completed measures assessing body image, investment, self-ideal discrepancy, depression, anxiety, and quality of life. Structural equation and invariance modeling were used to test the model paths and the invariance of the model.ResultsAs hypothesized, body image disturbance was found to mediate the relationships between personal investment and psychosocial outcome, and between self-ideal discrepancy and psychosocial outcome. The predicted paths were invariant across groups, although the model accounted for more variance in people with an amputation than people with diabetes.ConclusionBody image disturbance, personal investment, and self-ideal discrepancy are important factors contributing to psychosocial outcome for individuals with diabetes and individuals with an amputation. These findings not only confirm the validity of the model in these two groups, but they emphasize the importance of targeting body image in future psychological interventions for individuals with a health condition.

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